Success Stories

Community Action strives to enrich and better our community through our programs and services

Housing

A single mother and her teenage daughter were living at the Bruce Housing Program, a local homeless shelter for families, of the Women's Resource Center when they applied for the Tenant Based Rental Assistance Program (TBRA) through Chelan-Douglas Community Action Council. They were able to move from the Bruce into their own two bedroom apartment and started receiving rent subsidy.

While on the TBRA program, she worked with the Strong Families Program through the Women's Resource Center and Sage (Domestic and Sexual Violence Center). During the time she was receiving her rent subsidy, she was able to pay off some debt so that she no longer had garnishments. This improved her credit report and she bought a sewing machine, computer, and some furniture. She has even been able to establish and maintain relationships with her older daughter and grandchildren.Thanks to the services provided through Community Action Council's housing program and the other agencies we work with, this mom now feels more established in both her job and her apartment. Since her daughter is now old enough to help financially, she feels ready to move on independently without any assistance.

Asset Building

A single mother of one living in low income housing owned by Chelan-Douglas Community Action Council was using every resource available to her in hopes of bettering her life for herself and her son. She joined the Individual Development Account Program (IDA) in May 2009. She decided her savings goal would be to save money for a down payment on a home. She was able to budget her money and put aside $100.00 per month. She completed her 10 hours of financial education classes and the First Time Homebuyer classes receiving her certificates for both. Halfway through the IDA Program, she got married and she and her husband continued to save each month with the dream of owning their own home. Together they were able to reach their savings goal early. They were able to secure a loan through the USDA Rural development program and received a lower interest rate, which made their house payments affordable."My life has changed so much in the last two and a half years. We couldn't be happier," she says. They recently found out they are expecting a new baby. In fact they are expecting twins. It will be so exciting to bring new babies home to their new home and to their older brother.Thanks to Chelan-Douglas Community Action Council and the IDA Program for the opportunity to be a part of this program.

Energy Assistance

Our Energy Assistance program offers conservation education classes that potential applicants attend before their appointment with the department to apply for the program. We offer the classes in and in Spanish, and they are held at the Wenatchee Community Center, typically in the Veterans Hall. Conservation education has always been a part of the Energy Assistance program, but this redesigned class is a now a more in depth discussion about conservation measures that can be done by anyone in an effort to lower the home's heating bill.

The department had a client who was unable to attend the class, but received a conservation education packet to study and a questionnaire to complete before their Energy Assistance appointment. Unable to read the packet, the client had her children read through the packet and help her answer the questionnaire sheet. After reading through the packet, she and her four children had learned something new on how to conserve energy. The children now unplug their cell phone chargers and other appliances when not in use and are turning off lights when they leave the room. We will check back with her at the end of the year to see how these simple measure have resulted in a savings on her electricity bill.

Postal Carrier's Food Drive

Year after year in early spring, postal carriers all over the country collect millions of pounds of food for the needy in their areas. This tradition started in 1993 when the National Association of Letter Carriers learned that many of their branches were collecting food for the hungry in their communities. With input from many food banks, they decided that spring would be a good time to unify this effort around the country, as this is about the time when donations received during the holiday season start to run out. The postal carrier’s food drive is typically held the second Saturday in May with a goal of having at least one participating community in each state. Nationally, since the beginning of the food drive, over 1 billion pounds of food have been collected. Locally, each year, the postal carriers in the Wenatchee area bring the donated food to the Food Distribution Center, which is operated by Chelan-Douglas Community Action Council. Volunteers come on the second Saturday of May and help sort the donated food. The food is distributed by the Food Distribution Center to the 12 food pantries it distributes to, which will benefit a lot of hungry people in Chelan and Douglas Counties. For more information on the postal carrier’s food drive, go to the NALC website here.